War Hero

Midshipman

'From Combat situations, to keeping ports and sea lanes open for humanitarian missions, the role of a royal navy mine clearance diver is a vital one.'

I've read quite a lot of what MCDs are tasked to do, but i'm just wondering if 'combat situations' is entailed to instead of defending boats and personnel, whether they are ever tasked with destroying them.

I was also told by the recruitment officer that sometimes Divers can be sent to war zones to work on land diffusing IEDs?

War Hero

Right here we go. Firstly the "combat situation" could be onboard a MCMV in the Gulf. To be honest I don't really believe that, but if I don't I will be chastised for ignoring ship borne activities. Whilst the usual crowd will labour the point about divers going to sea, I feel after 25 years of service that we do NOT really do the FULL job we are able/ trained to do whilst at sea. The politicians on here will fully brief you on the finer points. I will gracefully bow out.

As for combat situations- I feel this is aiming whilst on a Herrick deployment ie Afghanistan. However as a young ie AB Diver you will NOT be deployed to theatre. This was the case originally with a CD1 a CD2 and two AB's. This commitment has now been reduced to a CD1 (PO(D)) and CD2 (Leading Diver). So you will not find yourself in Afghan. End of. Your AFCO is about 18 months out of date. (NS were you aware of that mate?)

As for diffusing bombs-trust me you will not be doing that for a while.The only time (99% of the time) you will be get up close and personal with an IED is if you have completed the high threat course. This course will not cross your path for a few years yet PO(D) and above. You could though destroy IED's from a safe distance using a small robot called dragon runner. Again this would not affect you as this for Afghan ops only.

The one time you would be involved in IEDD is if you go to an area team (SDU1, SDU2 or NDG). Here you will be trained up an IED No2. Basiclly the Operators assistant. This role can be carried out as an AB,though more than likely once you have completed your sea draft.

As for keeping ports and sea lanes open. This could be carried out by MCMV's or dive teams depending on the environment i.e a minehunter isn't exactly covert. They do however have a dogs bollox sonar so will pick out good contatcts at depth. Horses for courses. To be honest as underwater tradesmen we will go to where tasked in any underwater role.

Ask away for more info if needed. Grow some thick skin too, the loons will be along about mirrors and hair gel any second. Not all divers are good looking trust me I am rats so the joke is wasted on me! Oh and they are only jealous 'cos they are in some dead beat job ;-)

Yeh, you would think Portsmouth would be the first to be updated on diving... Sorry i'm not great with abbreviations, NS?

If you don't mind me taking a bit more of your time....

Although they state about all the different jobs you can be tasked with, what did you actually do most of the time while on the minehunter and on land? And where there any particular jobs you enjoyed or hated?

Grow some thick skin too, the loons will be along about mirrors and hair gel any second

Midshipman

War Hero

Not sure where my last reply went, so sorry if something pops up in a minute ^^

Thanks for all the information, i really appreciate it

Yeh, you would think Portsmouth would be the first to be updated on diving... Sorry i'm not great with abbreviations, NS?

If you don't mind me taking a bit more of your time....

Although they state about all the different jobs you can be tasked with, what did you actually do most of the time while on the minehunter and on land? And where there any particular jobs you enjoyed or hated?

Yeh, i noticed just from posting on forums, even the recruitment officer took the piss.

AB dogs body to be honest. Some diving maintenance, though mainly this is done by the LD. Gangway watches, bridge watches, mopping out the usual ship borne crap. You will wander why you made all the effort on course. Dig deep though you're not there forever.

LD probably the best time as a diver at sea. You'll spend most of the time on the store looking after the kit.

PO- Don't even ask. 18 months on PO's course and they convert you into a ******* writer!

Don't get bogged down with sea drafts. The best time you will have will be on a team. Spent most of my life on them and they are amazing and makes it all worth while. I have flown around the world getting paid to dive and blow shit up.

Midshipman

Yeh, a buddy of mine said he could sign me into the base on Horsea Island to have a chat with a few of the guys down there and see what goes on. Not sure exactly, who will have time to talk but hopefully it will be an incite, the AFCO i had unfortunately didnt seem to know a lot about the divers branch.

Don't get bogged down with sea drafts. The best time you will have will be on a team. Spent most of my life on them and they are amazing and makes it all worth while. I have flown around the world getting paid to dive and blow shit up.

War Hero

War Hero

From an AFCO perspective, the information we have on any branch is that provided by branch managers & gained when we do a tour of all the training extablishments every other year for "update briefs" by the subject experts.

The funny thing about recruiting is that very often we're 'in the loop' with regarding the latest developments with regard branch training - often more aware than those serving in the branch operationally, but not in the training environment. Beyond training, we're reliant on "feedback from the front" so updates on operational deployments such as that provided by frogman007 are much needed at AFCOs to try and give an accurate picture of career paths beyond training. What we find invaluable is when we get "loan ratings" at AFCOs as they have "frontline" experience which is invaluable in recruiting people into their respective source branch. To be fair though, the Diver branch is always heavily over-subscribed and needs little additional promotion because it's regarded as one of the most sought-after branches by many.

War Hero

From an AFCO perspective, the information we have on any branch is that provided by branch managers & gained when we do a tour of all the training extablishments every other year for "update briefs" by the subject experts.

The funny thing about recruiting is that very often we're 'in the loop' with regarding the latest developments with regard branch training - often more aware than those serving in the branch operationally, but not in the training environment. Beyond training, we're reliant on "feedback from the front" so updates on operational deployments such as that provided by frogman007 are much needed at AFCOs to try and give an accurate picture of career paths beyond training. What we find invaluable is when we get "loan ratings" at AFCOs as they have "frontline" experience which is invaluable in recruiting people into their respective source branch. To be fair though, the Diver branch is always heavily over-subscribed and needs little additional promotion because it's regarded as one of the most sought-after branches by many.

NS it might be worth you visiting FDG next time you're at Horsea and not just DDS. To be honest DDS (despite only being 50 yds away) are so out of the loop on operational matters it's unbelievable. I sometimes wonder wether we are in the same branch at times.

I am sure you may well have been in Bridge building before, just can't recall seing any AFCO wandering around.

War Hero

NS it might be worth you visiting FDG next time you're at Horsea and not just DDS. To be honest DDS (despite only being 50 yds away) are so out of the loop on operational matters it's unbelievable. I sometimes wonder wether we are in the same branch at times.

I am sure you may well have been in Bridge building before, just can't recall seing any AFCO wandering around.

Good point about visiting an operational team. There's always the danger with jobs such as Diver, Comms Tech, Royal Marines & Submariners that, [dare I say it?] the secretive nature of some of their activities prevent full disclose. The problem then is that what enquirers don't know, they fill in the blanks - inadvertently glamorising the branch, which in turn can draw-in the wrong type of individual.

What we try to do at AFCOs is present a realistic outlook - for Divers, very often the applicant has maybe had a go breathing underwater, possibly even feeding boiled eggs to big daft fish on holiday in the Maldives & perhaps thinks, "Hmmn, wouldn't mind getting paid for this". The reality of the job diversity is difficult to relate - fitting external sewerage pipes to a ship alongside in Pompey harbour in January, for example, is a far cry from the imagined glamour of the "bomb disposal" element of the work or 'attack diver' operations.

For the average applicant, annoying as it may feel being told "focus on the here and now", it's probably worth mentioning that on recent Diver course, two thirds of trainees voluntarily withdrew themselves from training before even reaching the final EOD phase of the course. That is the reality of how difficult it is.

Yeh, the AFCO was saying that people think it will be nice clean open waters all the time, and asking if i had any experience diving in the UK etc. I'm not expecting it to be all glamour, and i'm not even sure if most of the jobs will be exciting, boring or just make me scared shitless. Which is why i'm trying to find out as much as i can from people with past experience.

For the average applicant, annoying as it may feel being told "focus on the here and now", it's probably worth mentioning that on recent Diver course, two thirds of trainees voluntarily withdrew themselves from training before even reaching the final EOD phase of the course. That is the reality of how difficult it is.

I had never really thought about the training itself, for some reason i was thinking once past the PEDA, that's done and the rest will be an easy ride. But i would imagine a PEDA should be the least of your worries....